The major news in this article is how much criminal
settlements and fines against major drug companies have gone up in recent
years, to the extent that states going after drug firms for criminal behavior
(usually overpricing) are almost assured of eventually recouping all of the
costs of the investigation.

A statistic that I have had trouble tracking down in many
instances when I’ve blogged about these big settlements is just what proportion
of drug revenues the company had to pay in fines, so that from the company’s
point of view, there is simply no financial incentive not routinely to skate as close to
the legal thin ice as you can. Parent, in reviewing the total of
$29.38B paid in fines by the “worst offender” major drug firms between 1991 and
2012, helps us out with this fact:

“Although some of these settlement amounts seem astronomical, many drug
companies may consider the settlements a cost of doing business; the total
amount paid in fraud cases by pharmaceutical companies over the past 20 years
represents just two-thirds of the profits made by the 10 largest drug companies
in 2010 alone.”

Public Citizen has added its voice to those calling for
criminal prosecution of responsible company execs, as one of the only ways of
reining in this persistent corruption. (See our earlier post for why misdemeanor
charges against company execs might actually work better for this purpose than
felony charges: